Khas people

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about medieval and modern day Khas people. For ancient Indo-Aryan group of same name, see
Khas language
.
Not to be confused with Khasi people, the neighboring Austroasiatic ethnolinguistic group in the east or Khasia (clan), clan found in the Indian state of Gujarat.

Khas
खस
Khas women holding hands and performing Deuda
Total population
c. 15.3 million[1]
Regions with significant populations
Nepal, India, Bhutan
Languages
Nepali[2]
Religion
Hinduism
Related ethnic groups
Kumaoni, Garhwali, Pahari
Khas Tribe of Nepal

Khas tribe, (English:

Western Pahari languages.[15] The large portion of the Indo-Aryan speakers throughout lower Himalayas were the Khas people.[19] An intrusion of this tribe from the Western and Northwestern Himalayas into Central Himalayas is substantiated by the early linguistic evidences related to the Nepali language.[18] They were also known as Parbatiyas/Parbates and are currently known as Paharis/Pahadis. (literally, "from the hills"). They were also referred to as Yartse in Tibet and are also known as Khasan by Bhotia people. The term Khas has now become obsolete, as the Khas people have adopted communal identities because of the negative stereotypes associated with the term Khas. In Nepal the native speaker of Nepali language are known as Khas people.[20][21][22]

According to the Constitution of Nepal, Bahun, Kshetris, Thakuris, and Sanyasis (Dashnami) who are citizens of Nepal should be considered as "Khas Arya" for electoral purposes.[13]

Origin

Main article: Khasas
Main article: Khasas (Mahabharata)

Indo-Aryan origin theories

They have been connected to the

Pliny The Elder described the ancient Khasas/Khasiras (referred as 'Casiri') as one of the Indian ethnicity.[30]

Saka origin theories

Historian

Shakas were in Indian subcontinent before the first century BCE while the Khashas spread over the Himalayas and extensively populated the mountainous regions of Uttarakhand[31] and the later waves of Shakas got diffused into them.[31] Historian Omchand Handa contends that the "sun worship" among Khashas is a Shaka legacy and perhaps the standing Surya images with long boots which was commonly found at the Khasha belt of Himalaya. Some examples of it are the Bara-Aditya at Katarmal and Surya images of Baijnath, Bageshwar and Dwarahat.[31]

History

Medieval history in Uttarakhand-Nepal

Stone script of Damupal near Kartikhamba in Dailekh dated 1038 (981 A.D.) is claimed to be the first stone script in Nepali Language.[32]

Khasas are believed to have arrived in the western reaches of Nepal at the beginning of first-millennium B.C.[33] or middle of first-millennium A.D.[34] from the north-west. The earliest linguistic evidences related to Nepali language also substantiates the linguistic intrusion of an Indo-Aryan speaking Khasa tribe from the West or Northwest Himalayas into Central Himalayas at the present day regions of Western Nepal.[18] It is likely that they absorbed people from different ethnic groups during this immigration.[35] They had extensively populated the mountainous regions of Uttarakhand[31] and they had entirely dominated the inner Himalayan belt up to Nepal.[36] Previously, Khashas had strongly established themselves from Afghanistan to Nepal from ancient period and as per internal evidences, they managed the village level theocratic republics like Gram-Rajya and Mandals under various local clans and identities.[31]

The ruling

Khasa Malla kingdom.[23] The Khasa kings of West Nepal-Uttarakhand formed the famous Malla Kingdom, which ruled Humla from the eleventh century before collapsing and splintering into local chiefdoms during the fourteenth century.[39] In the initial phase, majority of Khas people became Brahmins and others became Kshatriyas.[34]

History in Kashmir

Vishnu and Lakshmi Garuda art at the time of the Khasha Lohara dynasty, 11th century CE, Jammu and Kashmir.

The ruling

Chenab river).[43]

Modern history in Nepal

Khas language using Devanagari
script

Until the 19th century, the Gorkhali referred to their country as Khas Desh (Khas country).[44] As they annexed the various neighboring countries (such as Nepal or Newa of the Newar people) to the Gorkha kingdom, the terms such as Khas and Newar ceased to be used as the names of countries. The 1854 legal code (Muluki Ain), promulgated by the Nepali Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana, himself a Khas,[45] no longer referred to Khas as a country, rather as a jāt (species or community) within the Gorkha kingdom.[46]

Khas Kingdom
Mukhtiyar Bhimsen Thapa, the widely accepted first Prime Minister of Nepal

The

Khas language (now called the Nepali language). However, they claimed to be Rajputs of western Indian origin, rather than the native Khas Kshatriyas.[47] Since outside Nepal, the Khas social status was seen as inferior to that of the Rajputs, the rulers started describing themselves as natives of the Hill country, rather than that of the Khas country. Most people, however, considered the terms Khas and Parbatiya (Pahari/Pahadi or Hill people) as synonymous.[44]

Jung Bahadur also re-labeled the Khas jāt as

plains considered the Khas as low-caste because of the latter's neglect of high-caste taboos (such as alcohol abstinence).[48] The upper-class Khas people commissioned the Bahun (Brahmin) priests to initiate them into the high-caste Chhetri order and adopted high-caste manners. Other Khas families who could not afford to (or did not care to) pay the Bahun priests also attempted to assume the Chhetri status but were not recognized as such by others. They are now called Matwali (alcohol-drinker Khas) Chhetris.[22] Because of the adoption of the Chhetri identity, the term Khas is rapidly becoming obsolete.[20] According to Dor Bahadur Bista (1991), "the Khas have vanished from the ethnographic map of Nepal".[22]

Modern

Nepal

Modern-day Khas people are referred to as Hill Brahmin (Bahun), Hill Kshatriya (Thakuri/Chhetri) and Hill Dalit.[49] Further, historian Pokharel adds the Gharti, Damai, Kami, Sarki, Hudka, Tamote, Gaine and Badi to the Khas communities.[27] In modern times, Khas people are popularly referred by the term "Khas Arya".[3]

India-Pakistan

In

Kumaon (referred as "Khasia") are descended from the Khasas.[15] Generally, the Khas people are referred as Rajputs or Kanets in the Himachal Pradesh.[50] According to E.T. Atkinson, the Jaunsar-Bawar
is the representative Khasiya tract and it

"..forms a very important links between the almost Hinduized Khasiyas of Kumaon and their brethren converts to Islam on the ethnical frontier of the mountains of Hindu Kush and apparently gives customs and practices of Khasiya race in full force at the present day which distinguished them thousands of years ago."[15]

Historian Sir

Marc Aurel Stein identified the modern Khakha Rajputs of Azad Kashmir as the descendants of Khasas mentioned in the Rajatarangini.[40][16] The Khasa tribe in Karnah region in northwestern Kashmir were represented by the modern Bomba (tribe).[17]

Communities

Historian Balkrishna Pokhrel writes the communities or caste in Khas group were hill

Newars.[52] The hill Khas tribe are in large part associated with the Gorkhali warriors.[52]

Historian-linguist E.T. Atkinson in his 1886 CE Kumaon gazetteer, mentions that there are 250 'septs among Khasiya Brahmins'[53] and 280 'septs among Khasiya Rajputs' who represent the Khasa tribe.[54] He states that the 90% of the Brahmins of Kumaon belong to the Khas tribe.[55] The Khasiya Brahmins are mentioned to have been chiefly cultivators and agriculturalists and most of them worship chiefly Bhairava, Shiva, Vishnu, the more common forms of the Shakti and village deities. Most of them derive their surnames from their village of origin.[53] The Khasiyas of Uttarakhand never attempted to connect themselves with plain regions until recently they found that such connections increases personal dignity.[56]

Khas people of the

Brahmins) practiced polyandrous marriages.[57]

Culture and religion

Languages

Irish Linguist

Himalaya from Kashmir to Darjeeling.[19][15]

Khas language of Nepal, belongs to the Northern Indo-Aryan language group
as shown as Nepali, in dark brown

The Khas people of Nepal originally referred to their language as

Iranian language family, nor the Indian languages, but to the mid Indo-Iranian languages.[27]

Music

Deuda song and folk dance performed on the occasion of various festivals in the Sudurpashchim and Karnali provinces of Nepal.[59]

Women holding hands and performing Deuda

Religion

Majority of Khas profess Hinduism,some of them also follow Buddhism and some where also converted into Christianity. The Khas people too had their own religion known as Masto religion where 12 masto gods were worshipped these gods were said to be sons of

Mahasu,Mahesh and Mahashiv

Notable people

Medieval Khas families and dynasties

Modern Khas

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Khas Arya is popularly used terminology over the various media to denote the group.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] The Constitution of Nepal considers the Kshetris, Thakuris, and Sanyasis (Dashnami) as "Khas" for the electoral purposes.[13]
  2. Marc Aurel Stein further identified the modern Khakha Rajput community as the Khas people in the Azad Kashmir state of Pakistan[16] and the modern Bomba clan in the Karnah region of Jammu and Kashmir.[17]
  3. Magadh while Mānava had dominion over Videha.[25]
  4. Indian Caucasus of Pliny.[28][29]

References

  1. ^ "Nepali (npi)". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  2. ^ a b c Richard Burghart 1984, pp. 118–119.
  3. ^ a b Khadka, Suman (25 February 2015). "Drawing caste lines". The Kathmandu Post.
  4. ^ "Khas Arya quota provision in civil services opposed". thehimalayantimes.com. 10 November 2017. Retrieved 2018-05-01.
  5. ^ "Nepal's election may at last bring stability". The Economist. Retrieved 2018-05-01.
  6. ^ "PM briefs international community". The Kathmandu Post. Retrieved 2018-04-06.
  7. ^ "Quotable quota". Nepali Times. Retrieved 2018-05-01.
  8. ^ "Next Door Nepal: Another chink in the wall". indianexpress.com. 2 April 2018. Retrieved 2018-05-01.
  9. ^ "Oli in balancing avatar". myrepublica.com. Retrieved 2018-05-01.
  10. ^ "Nepal seeks unity from its first local elections in 20 years". Nikkei Asian Review. Retrieved 2018-05-01.
  11. ^ "Lessons for India From Nepal's History of Banning Cow Slaughter". The Wire. Retrieved 2018-05-01.
  12. ^ "What does high caste chauvinism look like?". The Kathmandu Post. 7 April 2018. Retrieved 2018-05-01.
  13. ^ a b "Part-8 Federal Legislature". Nepal Law Commission. Archived from the original on 2021-04-28. Retrieved 2019-08-05.
  14. ^ Hagen & Thapa 1998, p. 114.
  15. ^ a b c d e f Saksena 2019, p. 109.
  16. ^ a b c d e f Stein 1989, p. 433.
  17. ^ a b c d Stein 1989, p. 434.
  18. ^ a b c Jain & Cardona 2007, p. 543.
  19. ^ a b c Saklani 1998, p. 71.
  20. ^ a b William Brook Northey & C. J. Morris 1928, p. 123.
  21. ^ a b K. S. Singh 2005, p. 851.
  22. ^ a b c d Dor Bahadur Bista 1991, p. 48.
  23. ^ a b John T Hitchcock 1978, pp. 112–119.
  24. ^ Sharma 1999, p. 181.
  25. ^ a b c d Acharya 1975, p. 199.
  26. ^ Acharya 1975, p. 200.
  27. ^ a b c d e f g h Pokhrel 1973, p. 229.
  28. ^ Grierson 1916, p. 17.
  29. ^ Saksena 2019, pp. 108–109.
  30. ^ Grierson 1916, p. 3.
  31. ^ a b c d e f g h Handa 2002, p. 22.
  32. ^ Prasai, Dirgha Raj (27 February 2011). "History Of Nepali Language and its importance". Rising Nepal. Archived from the original on 2023-05-10. Retrieved 2022-11-30 – via Educatenepal.
  33. ^ Dor Bahadur Bista 1991, p. 15.
  34. ^ a b Sharma 1999, p. 112.
  35. ^ John T Hitchcock 1978, p. 113.
  36. ^ Handa 2002, p. 24-25.
  37. ^ Handa 2002, p. 24.
  38. ^ Handa 2002, pp. 26–28.
  39. ISBN 9780789207227. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 2006-03-24. Retrieved 2016-06-14.
  40. ^ a b c d e Thakur 1990, p. 287.
  41. ^ Sharma 2019, p. 706.
  42. ^ Stein 1989, p. 432.
  43. ^ Stein 1989, p. 16.
  44. ^ a b Richard Burghart 1984, p. 107.
  45. ^ a b Dor Bahadur Bista 1991, p. 37.
  46. ^ Richard Burghart 1984, p. 117.
  47. ^ a b Richard Burghart 1984, p. 119.
  48. ^ Susan Thieme 2006, p. 83.
  49. ^ John T Hitchcock 1978, pp. 116–119.
  50. ^ a b c Manorma Sharma 1998, p. 113.
  51. ^ Sannyasi
  52. ^ a b c Whelpton 2005, p. 31.
  53. ^ a b Crooke 1896, p. 253.
  54. ^ von Fürer-Haimendorf 1966, p. 189.
  55. ^ Crooke 1896, p. 254.
  56. ^ Crooke 1896, p. 255.
  57. ^ Saksena 2019, pp. 107, 109–111.
  58. ^ Richard Burghart 1984, p. 118.
  59. ^ "देउडा गीत र देउडा भाषिकाको इतिहास". Sajha Bisaunee (in Nepali). Retrieved 2023-05-08.
  60. ^ a b c d Pradhan 2012, p. 22.
  61. ISBN 978-0-429-22460-7
    , retrieved 2021-07-02

Bibliography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Khas people.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Khas_people&oldid=1227556859"